Numerous medical operations for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment are undertaken via the patient's blood vessels. These operations are performed in connection with diseases in the vessel system, such as arteriosclerosis or malformation or diseases in organs such as the brain, heart or kidneys.
The examinations are often undertaken via the artery in the groin, arteria femoralis, into which is inserted a probe or catheter. This procedure provides the physician with an option of examination, or probably post-treatment, of a patient without too many complications.
When the examination is over, the probe or catheter is withdrawn from the vessel leaving a bleeding wound. This wound is closed by the physician or a trained nurse pressing the vessel together (called compressing) for at least 20 minutes. In certain cases, it is necessary to compress for several hours for the wound in the vessel to close. Then the patient must lie with a sand bag on the place of the insertion for at least two hours or with a bandage of the kind which is the object of European Patent Application No. 0 295 775.
A medium-sized hospital carries out more than a thousand of these operations annually. The work of closing a wound after these operations is time-consuming and therefore takes up a large number of doctor's hours on an annual basis.
The following patents are pertinent to this problem:
From U.S. Pat. No. 3 669 118 an apparatus is known for displacement of a uterus.
From German patent No. 219012, Swiss patent No. 149242, U.S. Pat. No. 1,281,653 and European patent application No. 0 082 009 are known various devices designed to exert a pressure on an artery in such a way that the transport of blood through the artery is hampered or stopped.
From U.S. Pat. No. 2,455,068 an apparatus is known which can be inserted into the throat of a patient whose tonsils have been taken out.
From Austrian patent No. 295027 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,625,219, 3,779,249, 4,233,980, 4,572,182 and 4,742,825 apparatuses are known which can be used to exert pressure on the actual place of puncture insertion after the catheter is removed. These apparatuses have the drawback that they either only exert a pressure in the vertical direction, or a pressure in the vertical direction in combination with horizontal pressures, with no resulting pressure in a defined direction. Furthermore, they are embodied in such a way that--when arranged in position--they prevent inspection of the place of insertion. These known apparatuses have not proved well-suited in practice, and therefore manual compression is used.
It is the purpose of the present invention to describe an arrangement which is without the drawbacks of the known apparatuses, and which when in use, can greatly reduce the work of closing a wound after a puncture insertion of the described nature.